Three years and Counting
by Ryoku123
Summary: HS!AU Sam's a junior and Dean is a senior. Both want to make this year memorable, and for them that means getting the guys they've had their eyes on for three years, Gabriel and Castiel Novak.


A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first Supernatural fanfiction even though I've been watching the show since it started. This is going to be Destiel and Sabriel because those are my two OTP's. So if you don't like that you know where the door is. And I do not own these characters. Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

"C'mon, Sammy, we're gonna be late!" Dean hollered from the driver's seat of his black '67 Chevy Impala.

"Give me a second to actually grab my crap. And it's Sam, not Sammy," the brunette muttered. He folded himself into the front passenger seat.

"Whatever dude. You know Mom will have our asses if we're late on the first day of school," Dean grouched.

"Dean, it's not my fault you woke up late. Both Mom and I tried to get you up," Sam said, "And why are you so eager to go to school anyway? You're never this excited."

"Senior year, little brother! After this, I'm a free man." The grin on Dean's face was huge and his green eyes were lit up like the fourth of July. "And you'll go on to college or wherever it is that you want to go and I'll take over Dad's shop. It'll be perfect."

"Heh, and I suppose that junior you have your eye on will somehow fit into this?" Sam smirked at the look that crossed his brother's face.

"Castiel is gonna be mine damnit. I've wanted him since he was a freshman. And what about you? You like his brother Gabriel."

Sam flushed a deep scarlet. "Shut up! So what if I do? It's not like he's even bound to notice," he muttered. Sam turned his head to look out the passenger window and saw that they were almost to school.

"How can he not notice you, Sammy? You tower over everyone at school and you're one of the nicest guys around. Don't give up, man."

Hearing the compliment from his brother made Sam smile; he knew that it was always hard for Dean to openly compliment people, which was why he was always misunderstood. Dean was known around school for being a hard-ass when it came to everyone but his brother. That was what made it so hard for people to approach him. But Sam knew how much Dean liked Castiel, though the two had never spoken. The shy junior was always in the company of his older brothers, who would deter the bullies around the school. That was how Sam had come to notice one of his senior brothers. Gabriel. The always mischievous look in Gabriel's honey brown eyes was what had originally captivated Sam. As Sam paid more attention, he noticed the simply amazing personality that Gabriel had. Sam fell for him. Hard.

"Hey, earth to Sam! We're here," Dean said as he pulled to a stop in a parking space and cut the engine.

"Sorry," he laughed as he got out of the car and followed his brother toward the school "I spaced there for a minute."

"I noticed," Dean said laughing. "Thinking about your boyfriend?" He elbowed his little brother in the side and smirked at him.

"And if I was?" Sam deadpanned.

"Just poking fun at ya, Sammy," Dean said before a flash of messy brown locks caught his gaze and his attention was pulled away from his brother. "What is Cas doing with those guys?"

"With who?" Sam followed the line of his brother's gaze and saw Castiel, looking harried and a little scared, following a group of known bullies around the corner of the school. "Where are Gabriel and Balthazar at?"

"I don't know, but that doesn't bode well." Dean all but growled. "Let's go."

Sam nodded and the two brothers followed the group around the building toward the back of the school. They heard voices and what almost assuredly sounded like whimpering. Dean's eyes narrowed, and he and Sam prowled around the corner to find Castiel curled into a ball on the ground with the group of bullies kicking the crap out of him.

"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Dean yelled at the group, as he ran forward.

"Shit, it's the Winchesters! Run for it!" one of the guys yelped, and the group dispersed immediately, running in different directions.

"You better run, ya chicken shits!" Dean roared. Concerned, he knelt next to the shaking form of Castiel.

"Is he alright?" Sam asked. He stood guard next to his brother in case anyone decided to return.

Dean gently put a hand on Castiel's shaking shoulder, wincing as the smaller boy flinched. "Hey, it's alright Cas. I'm not gonna hurt you. C'mon, it's alright now," he coaxed. When a pair of soulful teary blue eyes looked up at him, Dean smiled. "Can you sit up?"

Castiel nodded and shakily uncurled from the ball he was huddled in. "Th-thank you," he whispered, sitting up. With Dean's help he gathered up his scattered books and papers and stood up.

"It's no problem," Dean said, unconsciously adjusting the brunette's coat for him.

"Castiel? There you are!"

All three boys turned to look down the side of the school and saw Gabriel and Balthazar running up to them. When they reached Castiel and took in his appearance, they turned angry eyes on the Winchesters.

"What happened to him?" Gabriel asked, the threat clear in his voice. Sam stepped forward, hands up in a placating gesture.

"We stopped a group of bullies from beating him," Sam said softly, making eye contact with the senior. "Dean was just helping him get his things together."

Gabriel and Balthazar looked to their younger brother for confirmation and when Castiel nodded and blushed, Gabriel turned his attention back to Sam and smiled charmingly at him. "Sorry about that," he said, apologizing for his behavior. "It's just that we lost sight of him for a minute and were worried."

Sam smiled. "I understand how it is to worry about your brother. I'm Sam, by the way." He held out his hand.

"Gabriel," was the response as he reached out and shook Sam's hand. "Thanks for helping our little brother."

"Do you know why those guys were bullying your brother?" Dean asked.

"It's because I'm gay," Castiel said, looking at the ground and refusing to make eye contact.

"So?" Dean said. "So are Sam and I and no one messes with us."

"Castiel doesn't know how to defend himself," Balthazar explained, speaking for the first time. "We've tried to teach him self-defense, but Castiel just isn't an aggressive person. That's why Gabriel and I are always with him."

"You two are gay?" Gabriel asked, looking at Sam and Dean.

Sam blushed and scratched the back of his head nervously "Yeah."

Dean, noticing his brother's discomfort, bristled slightly. "Is that a problem?"

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. "Not at all, you two just didn't strike me as gay, and coming from a gay person that's saying something."

Sam's eyes widened and he and Dean looked at each other. "Is everyone here gay then?"

"Nope," Balthazar said. "I'm straight as an arrow – like the women folk, I do."

Dean and Sam laughed at that and the five of them started walking back toward the front of the school.

"So how is it that we've never met?" Gabriel asked, "You're a senior, right Dean?"

"Yeah, and Sammy here is a junior."

"Is that so? I thought with your height and build you would be a senior," Gabriel said, glancing at Sam.

"I hit a growth spurt over the summer," Sam replied. "Shocked the entire family, really."

Gabriel laughed. "Wouldn't know the feeling, I stopped growing sophomore year."

"I think your height is fine," Sam said, smiling. Gabriel beamed at him.

"Hate to break up the flirting, boys, but I do believe this is where we part ways," Balthazar drawled. Sam blushed and Gabriel just grinned mischievously.

Dean smirked and looked at his quiet companion. "Hey Cas, if you ever need anything just let me know, alright?"

The junior blushed and nodded, "Thank you for earlier…"

"Dean, my name is Dean."

"Dean then, thank you for your help."

"It's no problem," Dean assured the brunette. "Always happy to help."

As Castiel, Gabriel and Balthazar walked away, Dean turned to Sam. "I think this year is going to be great, brother. I can feel it."

Sam watched Gabriel go and couldn't help but smile. "I think you're right." He turned to his brother. "Now hurry up and get to class before you're late."

"Yeah yeah," Dean grumbled good-naturedly, "See you at lunch," he called over his shoulder as he walked away.

Sam waved at him and headed in the opposite direction toward his homeroom, the vision of honey colored eyes and a mischievous smile on his mind.

* * *

Dean didn't pay attention to any of the classes he had before lunch, as he was dwelling on a pair of teary blue eyes set in a blushing face. He felt extremely lucky that he had arrived today when he did, because he was finally able to meet the shy junior that had first caught his attention three years ago. He hadn't exactly wanted to meet him under these circumstances, but beggars couldn't be choosers and Dean was quite pleased with the way things had turned out, even if Castiel hadn't said much.

The ringing of the bell brought Dean out of his musings, and he gathered up his empty notepad, shoved it into his backpack, and headed for the door. It was time for lunch. Dean headed toward the cafeteria to meet Sam and hear about his day so far. Maybe he had a certain brunette in one or two of his classes. When he saw Sam's towering form he waved to get his brother's attention before struggling through the stream of people to meet the younger Winchester.

When he reached Sam, Dean took a deep breath, "Shit, never thought I would get through that."

Sam chuckled. "I did lose sight of you there for a second."

"Oh, c'mon Sammy, I'm not that short. I'm the normal height for a guy my age."

"If you say so," Sam said with a smirk as they worked their way toward the cafeteria.

"I'll kick your ass if you make fun of my height, you bitch."

"Shut your face, jerk."

"Well, there's no love lost between the two of you is there?"

Sam and Dean looked over their shoulders and saw Gabriel grinning at them; honey-brown eyes alight, with Balthazar and Castiel in tow.

Sam's cheeks dusted pink and Dean zeroed in on Castiel. "I was just giving him a hard time," he said almost-but-not-quite bashfully.

"We noticed," Balthazar said rather dryly, earning an elbow from Gabriel and an obvious glare that said _be nice_. Balthazar held his hands up in mock surrender and stepped around the small group that was stopped in the middle of the hallway. "If you all don't mind, I'm going to go have lunch with Michael and Adam. My lovely self can only handle so much gay, dears."

As the blonde sauntered off Sam looked at Gabriel. "You sure you're related to him?"

"He may be a bit odd, but Balthazar is a good guy," Gabriel said. "A bit overprotective, but an all around good guy."

"Are you guys gonna stand around all day?" Some guy in the hallway yelled at them.

"Say that to my face, asshole," Dean shouted back. He got no reply. "That's what I thought."

"We should get to the cafeteria though if we want to get some decent food," Sam said, stepping forward.

Castiel looked up at Dean and asked quietly, "Would it be all right if Gabriel and I joined you for lunch?"

Dean's eyes widened and he gave the younger boy a quick, sharp grin. "Sure Cas, do what you want."

A shy almost-smile made Dean's heart do a quick _thump thump_ and Gabriel's boisterous announcement of "well that settles that" broke Dean out of La-la land.

The four teenagers walked the rest of the way to the cafeteria, two of them talking amiably, while the other two walked in comfortable silence. When they were in the cafeteria, they got their food and sat at one of the empty tables on the edge of the room, so they wouldn't be bothered by the general populace of the school.

"So!" Gabriel said once they were all settled in, "Why don't you two tell us about yourselves, now that we're all acquainted and all." He smiled a crooked, charming smile at Sam and added a wink for good measure.

Dean snorted. "What do you want to know, man? We're pretty ordinary."

"Well, for starters Dean-o, let's start with that thing you call a car…"

"Hey! Don't start on Baby," Dean said defensively, not noticing the small smile that Castiel had on his face when hearing the name of the Impala. Sam and Gabriel burst out laughing at how protective Dean was over his car, and all throughout lunch Gabriel poked fun at him about it while the four of them got to know each other better over the crappy cafeteria food. When the lunch bell sounded and all four boys parted ways to their separate classes, the rest of the day seemed to just fly by.

* * *

"So how was school, boys?" asked Mary Winchester as Sam and Dean walked through the front door and into the kitchen. John was sitting at the dinner table reading a mechanics magazine, but he looked up when the brothers walked in.

"It was good," Dean answered. He and Sam sat down at the table to pull out their homework.

"Just good?" their dad questioned, knowing both his boys. If they said they had a good day then something big must have gone down.

"Well…" Sam started, but a glare from Dean shut him up.

Mary stood behind John, hands on his shoulders and looked at her sons. "Did you two finally talk to those boys you like?"

Dean's face went curiously blank and Sam turned bright red.

"I thought so," their mother said triumphantly, while John just chuckled and shook his head. "What took so long? It's only been three years, right?"

"We saved Castiel from being beaten up," Dean said, avoiding his mothers' gaze. "Not exactly the way I wanted to meet him, or the way Sam wanted to meet his brother."

"Why on earth was he being picked on?"

"He's gay, and according to his brothers he doesn't like to fight," Sam said, speaking for his brother. "Gabriel and Balthazar are always with him so that he doesn't have any problems at school. He's a nice guy, just really shy."

"And Sammy here is so sweet on Gabriel the two were practically giving each other googly eyes at lunch today," Dean snarked.

"Shut up dude!"

Dean smirked at his brother. "It's true."

"You were no better, practically fawning over Castiel. I thought you were supposed to be all macho and crap."

"Boys." When John spoke it was quiet and stern, and Sam and Dean shut up immediately. "I'm glad that you were finally able to talk to these kids, but don't start fighting over who was more obvious in their attraction. It's juvenile and you are both almost grown men, and I expect you to act as such."

"Yes sir," the brothers said in unison.

"Good. Now go upstairs and work on your homework until dinner is done. Your mother and I have things to talk about."

Feeling like a couple of five-year-olds, Sam and Dean gathered up their stuff and went upstairs to their rooms to finish their work before dinner.

"Look, man..." Sam started.

"Don't worry about it, Sammy. We're gay, not girls." Dean smirked at his brother. "It's no big deal."

Sam chuckled and went into his room, closing the door behind him. As he settled down at his desk he mused on the events of the day so far. If today was anything to go by, it was going to be one hell of a year, and he hoped and prayed that by the end of it he would have a boyfriend that just so happened to have honey-brown eyes and a mischievous smile.

End Ch. 1


End file.
